The Epitaph and Tomb Henry gave Richard

I must admit that I had heard pretty consistently of the need to honour the body of a dead king; and therefore I assumed that, outrageously, Henry never provided a tomb for Richard. That his body was slung naked over a horse, and abused by passers by as it traveled from Bosworth to Leicester we know – including a stab in the buttocks. The grave dug for it in the Chancel of Greyfriars appears to have been too small; it might even been that his hands were still tied. Then I watched the ceremony in Leicester on DVD, and the grand new tomb he has now, and the righting of a wrong.

But Henry did apparently give Richard a tomb at Greyfriars, Leicester – and an official epitaph was prepared. A copy of the
epitaph survived at the College of Arms (the College of Arms was founded by Richard III), who published the image they own in their newsletter, written by one Thomas Hawley, a Herald between 1509 and 1557.

Of course, this is written by the victor, so there’s a bit of honest gloating going on; but the text is surprisingly moderate; none of the vitriol you might expect at all. Even the ending might be translated as the normal ‘forgive his sins’ line with which most medieval inscriptions end. Also, in 1495, Henry had planned a new alabaster tomb – though, fair dos, he never got round to it.

Anyway, here’s the text:

I, here, whom the earth encloses under various coloured marbleWas justly called Richard the Third.I was Protector of my country, an uncle ruling on behalf of his nephew I held the British kingdoms by broken faith. Then for just sixty days less two, And two summers, I held my sceptres.Fighting bravely in war, deserted by the English,I succumbed to you, King Henry VII. But you yourself, piously, at your expense, thus honour my bones And you cause a former king to be revered with the honour of a kingWhen [in] twice five years less fourThree hundred five-year periods of our salvation have passed.And eleven days before the Kalends of SeptemberI surrendered to the red rose the power it desired.Whoever you are, pray for my offences, That my punishment may be lessened by your prayers

It paints Henry VII in a slightly better light than I’d been led to believe.

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3 thoughts on “The Epitaph and Tomb Henry gave Richard”

Interesting, “justly called Richard the Third”, so Henry recognises Richards claim to the throne? Or am I missing something?
Secondly, “the red rose the power”. I’ve always been told that the entire rose thing was an invention of Will Shakespeare, Walter Scott or Laurence Olivier or somebody of that era, but here is the fauna in question swanning about rather earlier than that.
Finally; no mention of the usurped princes?
All in all, food for thought for us casual history fans.

Hi Derfel – yes that is interesting; However, it accords with the fact that Henry declares the start of his rule on 21st August 1485; which was cheeky, but he didn’t appear to claim that Richard was no king at all. The Red Rose thing itself was not entirely an invention; certainly as soon as he arrived, Henry plastered Red Roses and the new Tudor rose all over the place, like some mad horticulturalist. The invention was a question of timing – the White Rose was just one of the Yorkist symbols, and during the Wars of the Roses the protagonists didn’t use the phraseology Wars of the Roses, rather the Cousin’s Wars if they referred to it at all as a thing. The whole flower garden thing was Shakespeare; and the primacy of the White Rose as a Yorkist symbol came from the Tudor Rose idea. If nothing else, Henry had an eye for a nice design. And yes the absence of Princes is interesting; but really, Henry, illegitimate as he pretty nearly was, was keen to just sweep all of the debate about succession under the carpet and get on with the business of telling everyone that it was his throne by right.